Pay-off or lay-off: HP calls on 700 staff to heed redundo plea

EOW woe

Hewlett-Packard has reduced the number of UK employees it plans to show the door in its latest round of redundancies from 934 to 720.

Employees at the company received an email, seen by The Register, from management last week in which HP confirmed that it was asking for all its UK infrastructure technology outsourcing (ITO) client support and “capabilities” staff to consider taking voluntary redundancy.

HP, which initially targeted 934 lay-offs, told its workers in that division to put forward an “Expression of Wish” if they were interested in quitting their jobs and taking redundo pay.

However, it added that if the job cuts are not achieved via that route then “a compulsory redundancy programme will be required”.

HP staff affected by the latest cull, which was slammed by union Unite earlier this month, have until 6 August to apply for voluntary redundancy.

The company told its workers that “acceptance of EOWs in areas where there are no Q4 bestshore plans will be dependent on successful backfill by employees who may be impacted by these plans”.

It said staff working on the BT account and those who have been identified as being in scope for TUPE transfer from HP were not included in the latest job cuts.

“We fully appreciate the difficult challenge that we face to deliver benchmark cost structures and the impact that this has at an individual level,” said the management missive to HP staff.

“We will continue to communicate with you regularly and thank you for your continued professionalism and putting our customers first.”

An HP spokesman confirmed to El Reg that 720 jobs were up for the chop, but declined to comment on when the cull would be completed at the firm. ®